People deny they have obese children
 

There was a kid on the row in front of me at the Vegas Bowl who scarfed three boxes of popcorn, two of those churros they were selling, two hot chocolates, and a bag of cotton candy. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old, and I really think he weighed more than me. His dad just kept buying him crap to eat, presumably to keep him quiet so dad could watch the game. It was gross and sad at the same time.

It's hard for people to recognize obesity anymore. My older kids are on a swim team and I'm used to seeing a bunch of very fit kids working out 2 hours a day. One day this summer I took them to a public pool just to cool off and I was shocked at how many really fat kids were there. My kids looked like they hadn't been fed in a month. But any other parent could look around and they'd see their kids looked just like all the others.

I remember growing up in the 70's/80's that each year in school there was maybe one heavy kid in class that got referred to as "the fat kid". Now, half the kids in my son's classes look like the one kid we'd have called fat. I don't know what the problem is, but it really is becoming an epidemic. I mean we had soda, we had video games and tv too. Something else is in the mix.

I think the biggest problem is portion size. I remember going to McDonald's as a kid, and the soda would be like 6 ounces, not 32. And there weren't all-you-can-drink refills. The fries were also much smaller. We're just eating too much food.

And I don't like to judge how people raise their kids, but parents who give their children nothing but fast food to eat are seriously screwing up their kids lives.

I know, with my folks though I think it might be their eyesight isn't as good as it used to be.

Well in the sixties and seventies it was the same.

In a class, there was the fat kid, that everybody ridiculed.

I remember in fourth and fifth grade, "Donna", she was over five feet at that age and more than 110 pounds. I remember it today because it would be many years before I achieved that weight. Now, she'd be in the middle of the class.

Again perhaps I won't see it very well once my eyesight fades.

Mississippi has the fattest kids in the nation. I wonder why. Could it be the the moon pies they are given every day as a snack in kindergarten?

My kindergarten snacks were things like apples and peanut butter or carrots and ranch dressing or peanuts and raisins.

But hey, my son loves those moon pies.

We gave our college daughter a set of training sessions with a personal trainer and running shoes.

Hopefully she develops a good habit of exercise and understands physiology a bit better thereafter. She complained, "does Santa think I'm fat?"

It's all portion sizes. I've been trying to eat better the last couple of weeks so last night when I wanted to eat more (two plates instead of one) I couldn't do it. It made me sick.

I used to eat at least 2 plates of food and sometimes 3 when visiting my in-laws.

I also remember playing video games but me and my friends were outside a lot more than you see kids outside these days.